Anyone have a good experience meeting a pro at the WSOP?

[JohnFR]

At one of the Bellagio WPT events my wife and I went to watch the play for a few minutes. We were just kinda walking around the roped off area, people watching, me pointing out random poker players when I notice Paul Darden is kinda looking our way. He has his sunglasses on so I can't tell for sure though. My wife and I decide to move to somewhere else a few dozen feet away, and we notice a few other name players, and I look back towards Paul Darden's table and he is still looking at us. I lean closer to my wife and tell her not to give it away by looking or anything but I think Paul Darden is staring at you. She asks me where he is sitting and what he looks like and I give her the details and she just laughs and waits about 30 seconds and glances over towards his table and looks back at me and tells me she can't be sure but it does seem like he was looking her direction. So we start walking around in random directions pretending like we are watching random players though both of us keep Paul in our line of sight and notice that he is for sure tracking us the whole time, I can't help but laugh and we both think this is just hilarious, so I tell her to do a little test and tell her to walk right by the rail where he is so he has to physically turn his head substantially after she passes him and I will stay where I was and watch the hilarity. Sure enough as she walked by he kinda strained to watch her then after she passed he turned all the way around and watched her.

This was probably the funniest experience with a named pro, I have run into Barry Greentstein last year at the ME and he was a nice guy. Dan Harrington also seemed friendly when I passed him in the hall.

Cheers!
John

[Texter]

This year, I met:

Steven Paul Ambrose - nice kid, seemed embarassed to be signing autographs. I tried to line up an interview with him.

Taylor Caby - also a nice guy; did an interview with him, very level headed.

Brian Townsend - did an interview with him; he was nice but seemed a little cockier than Caby. And he wouldn't tell me his bankroll...

Chad Brown - did an interview with him at one of the breaks of the main event, very nice as well.

Daniel Negreanu - shook his hand and told him thanks for doing an interview with us a couple years ago...he said "no problem" and rushed off after busting in the charity event.

Bryan Devonshire - was very cool and did a great interview; unfortunately it was a phone deal since he was out of town.

Annie Duke - just told her thanks for doing the interview a couple years ago...she too said "no problem".

Elky - his english isn't great so I didn't get much out of it...and neither did he.

In the past I talked to Barry G in Bobby's room, I was asking him how the book sales were going and he gave me some details on the book etc...I asked him what he thought of Joe Sebok playing poker...he wished that Joe would do something productive with his life.

Johnny World Hennigan - didn't want to do an interview and got out of the pics I took in bobby's room...didn't seem like a bad guy though.

Chris Moneymaker - played some 1/2 NLHE at the palms in 2006 and he let me take a pic, he was nice to everyone at the table but kept trying to get the limit raised to 5/10 NL.

Paul Phillips - before he quit playing, thanked him for doing an interview and we talked for a bit, he was pretty cool and was a little buzzed on coronas.

[Jack Bando]

Not me, but my dad met Moneymaker and Laak in the high stakes area at a casino they were doing some promotion for (winner of a freeroll VIP tourney got them to come to their home game or something) said they were both great guys for the few minutes he talked to them.

[Cat]

Played with Miami John and Mark Seif at a WPT event, both chatty and friendly, particularly Seif who was a really nice guy and both seemed v good players. In fact they totally brightened up the day as everyone else at the table was dead serious and quiet. Almost didn't recognise Miami John as he has lost so much weight and was tiny.

Fave has to be Jen Harman who I played briefly with a while back, chatty and super nice and friendly, very very impressed with her, absolutely no airs.

Unlike Annie Duke who I met in Aruba, who, despite the fact she was sat at a table signing photos and supposedly meeting people - was arrogant, unfriendly and totally two-faced. Absolutely couldn't stand her.

[SpaceMonkey13]

We're all gonna get sued by the "What Happens In Vegas Stays in Vegas" people...

[Iron Lion]

i saw barry greenstein after he got bumped out of this years Horse Event. Barry was very nice to me and my wife, even though i broke his balls for a photo right after he got eliminated. thx again barry g.

[Fiasco]

Played with the following at a WSOP event this year (all at the same table):

Rolf Slotboom: Funny friendly guy, but vague about who he was (I said I recognized him from somewhere and he claimed to be a european pornstar). Did seem to have a bit of a chip on his shoulder, when someone called the clock on him he took it really personally. At one point told me that I "wouldnt bet with a banana" which I think was a compliment.

Chad Brown: Really nice guy. Wed been at the same table for about 10 hours when I got knocked out. Made a point of learning my name and shaking my hand when I left.

Joe Hachem: Pretty nice guy with dry sense of humor. We were in the tent and the AC was making our table super cold. He made some joke about the two of us cuddling for warmth. Also busted my balls a bit in a good natured way. Did that annoying "I always get it in good and lose" act that gets old pretty fast. Got it in in a bad spot and sucked out and was like "Oh, I always get it in good, this is such an unfamiliar situation getting it in bad and winning".

John Esposito: Good guy but pretty intense and intimidating to someone who was new to this. Happy to make conversation though.

Minh Ly: Super chatty and really bad at the game we were playing (PLO8). Kept going on about how you need to do well in cash games to make the WSOP worthwhile. I had a lot of trouble telling what he was saying (LDO). Managed to get himself knocked out with two pair and a bad low draw on a flush board.

Aaron Kanter: Kind of quiet and shy, but good natured. I was giving him crap for wearing a hat advertising a website that doesnt exist yet, and he took it well. Didnt make any reckless donk moves, seems like a solid player despite his performance at the end of 2005 ME.

[BigPoppa]

[ QUOTE ]
At one of the Bellagio WPT events my wife and I went to watch the play for a few minutes. We were just kinda walking around the roped off area, people watching, me pointing out random poker players when I notice Paul Darden is kinda looking our way. He has his sunglasses on so I can't tell for sure though. My wife and I decide to move to somewhere else a few dozen feet away, and we notice a few other name players, and I look back towards Paul Darden's table and he is still looking at us. I lean closer to my wife and tell her not to give it away by looking or anything but I think Paul Darden is staring at you. She asks me where he is sitting and what he looks like and I give her the details and she just laughs and waits about 30 seconds and glances over towards his table and looks back at me and tells me she can't be sure but it does seem like he was looking her direction. So we start walking around in random directions pretending like we are watching random players though both of us keep Paul in our line of sight and notice that he is for sure tracking us the whole time, I can't help but laugh and we both think this is just hilarious, so I tell her to do a little test and tell her to walk right by the rail where he is so he has to physically turn his head substantially after she passes him and I will stay where I was and watch the hilarity. Sure enough as she walked by he kinda strained to watch her then after she passed he turned all the way around and watched her.

This was probably the funniest experience with a named pro, I have run into Barry Greentstein last year at the ME and he was a nice guy. Dan Harrington also seemed friendly when I passed him in the hall.

Cheers!
John

[/ QUOTE ]

This post is useless without pics

[beermankirk]

I Don't play very many events, but I sat with Marcel Luske in the $2000 stud/8, and we was a real gentleman, and definetly was a classy player. We had a small last longer prop bet that I won. He had 2000 chips to my 6500 chips and wanted 3-1 odds for last longer on $500 to my $1500. I talked him down my $500 vs. his $200. And it was enetertaining for the table.

Some people didn't like his constant singing at the table.

Anyways I met some other folks, but this was a good story, for myself, and there will be enough negative ones about the douchebag pros that I met.

Kirk

[cts]

surprised no one has mentioned matusow, he is really friendly, seemed to love to take pictures with fans/talk poker/etc